aboard: LT (jg) William L. Finkenhagen, USNR, and AX2 Roberto B. Reed, USN, who were transferred to Subic Bay for further care; LT (jg) Charles B. Stella, USNR, and RD1 William T. Smith, USN, who were treated and retained aboard. AX3 Clayton Kemp, USN, and AX3 Wayne C. Reinecke, USN, were declared dead after an extensive air-sea search following the accident. 19 January First General Dynamics F-111 accident occurs when pre-production F-111A, 63-9774, c/n A1-09, lands short of the runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California, due an improper wing sweep setting. The crew of two is uninjured, but when the pilot, Maj. Herbert F. Brightwell, goes around to unfasten the WSO, Col. Donovan I. McCance, he stands in a pool of spilled JP-4 fuel which subsequently ignites, killing him. 27 January Apollo 1 launchpad fire kills three U.S. astronauts. Apollo 1 is the official name that was later given to the never-flown Apollo/Saturn 204 (AS-204) mission. Its command module, CM-012, was destroyed by fire during a test and training exercise at Pad 34 (Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral, then known as Cape Kennedy) atop a Saturn IB rocket. The crew aboard were the astronauts selected for the first manned Apollo program mission: Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee. Although the ignition source of the fire was never conclusively identified, the deaths were attributed to a wide range of lethal design hazards in the early Apollo command module. Among these were the use of a high-pressure 100 percent-oxygen atmosphere for the test, wiring and plumbing flaws, inflammable materials in the cockpit (such as Velcro), an inward-opening hatch that would not open in this kind of an emergency and the flight suits worn by the astronauts. 1 February Rookie member of the Blue Angels U.S. Navy flight demonstration team, Lt. Frank Gallagher, of Flushing, New York, is killed while flying (KWF) when his Grumman F-11A Tiger crashes during a practice flight ~16 miles NW of NAS El Centro, California. Fighter impacts in rugged desert terrain on a Navy test range. Assigned to the team only six weeks before, he is the fourth Blue Angels team member to die in an accident. Gallagher flew as the solo in the four-man formation and as number 6 in the full formation. 18 February Second crash of a Blue Angels demonstration team jet in three weeks